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Saturday, September 12, 2009

What if the monsters from your favorite horror books were real? Eddie Fennicks has always been a loner, content to lose himself in a mystery novel by his favorite author, Nathaniel Olmstead. That’s why moving to the small town of Gatesweed becomes a dream come true when Eddie discovers that Olmstead lived there before mysteriously disappearing thirteen years ago. Even better, Eddie finds a handwritten, never-before-seen Nathaniel Olmstead book printed in code and befriends Harris, who’s as much an Olmsteady as he is. But then the frightening creatures of Olmstead’s books begin to show up in real life, and Eddie’s dream turns into a nightmare. Eddie, Harris, and their new friend, Maggie, must break Olmstead’s code, banish all gremlins and monster lake-dogs from the town of Gatesweed, and solve the mystery of the missing author, all before Eddie’s mom finishes writing her own tale of terror and brings to life the scariest creature of all. - book jacket

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From angry trolls, a missing author, and a curse as old as time, The Stone Child is a magical read filled with terrifying creatures and amazingly scary fun.

I really enjoyed reading The Stone Child because, though it was scary enough to make your skin crawl, it has a good vs. evil plot and a creative “book within a book” style. This book is perfect for anyone who, like myself, enjoys horror stories that give you a good adrenaline rush, but doesn’t keep you up at night.

The Stone Child keeps you on your toes with brave, but curious characters; secret codes and myths about ancient times; and an eerie eye-view of the haunts of Gatesweed. It was a lot of fun to read, and even though the red-eyed dogs really gave me the creeps, they were by far my favorite “monster”.

With it’s magical, detailed narrative and stunning ending, I think readers will never forget The Stone Child. (I know I’ll never forget that troll!) Poblocki has such a neat imagination, I am really looking forward to reading more of his books!

All in all, from the very first sentence to the last paragraph, The Stone Child will capture your attention with frightful adventure and a world of monsters than will only go away if you can discover the key to the stone child. Just make sure you stay away from the lake....trust me.

Dan Poblocki has always loved telling frightening stories and scaring his friends. So much in fact, that his mother began receiving phone calls from angry parents. He decided to write the stories instead. Dan and his magical imagination live in Brooklyn, NY. This is his first novel.

For more info on The Stone Child, go it's Shelfari page, where I have updated it with the first sentence, a short summery, and a list of characters.

My favorite ghost stories are the old, old horror masters from victorian times to the mid 20th century - like H.P. Lovecraft, M.R. James, Oliver Onions and tons more! BUT I am new to the YA horror genre and starting to really LOVE it, as well.

I usually find my favorite reads at used book stores, online and rummage sales :) Currently I'm into the vampire and ghost tales YA.

Thanks for the chance to win this great book, I've had it on my SUPER DUPER WANT LIST for a couple of weeks now :)

One of our favorite ghost stories is the phantom of a young girl with half a face (no cheek, nose and mouth), black hair and eyes bulging out of their sockets, solemnly skipping rope as she floats down the street. She is said to be the ghost of a murdered teenage girl, strangled by her own jump roap and left to decompose along the roadside, now doomed to wander Old Pali Road on the island of Oahu.

There is a local legend about the Bell Witch. It has become quite popular so you may have heard it. If not here is the overview:

According to the legend, the first manifestation of the haunting occurred in 1817 when John William Bell, Sr. encountered a strange animal in a cornfield on his large farm in Robertson County, on the Red River, near Adams, Tennessee. The animal, described as having the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit, vanished when Bell shot at it. This incident was quickly followed by a series of strange beating and gnawing noises manifesting outside and eventually inside the Bell residence. Betsy Bell, the family's younger daughter and the only daughter still living at home (Bell's oldest daughter Esther married Alexander Bennett Porter July 24, 1817), claimed to have been assaulted by an invisible force.

There's a road about 40 minutes from where I live. A girl was killed on her prom night there and sometimes people see a girl in a white prom walking along the road, but when they drive past her she disappears.

Ok, there was this one story that my older sister used to tell (which hasn't scared anyone in quite some time) called The Golden Arm. It's kind of like The Tell-Tale Heart. So this woman who lost her arm and replaced it with a golden prosthetic limb. Then when she died, someone stole it. She came back and huanted them, wailing around the house at night asking for her *cue spooky voice* Gooolden aaaarrrrmmm! :)+2 I became a follower.

The first ghost story ever told to me was in a dark, dusty room in Costa Rica. Apparently the ghost story was very popular in that area and was about a young boy and girl who drowned in a deep river and haunted the stream's bed ever since.

My favorite ghost story is one I actually heard in a class. In Spanish, they told us the story of the Chupacabra, a blood-sucking creature that is of an unknown breed. It's not really scary for me now but it was when the story was first told. =]

This is actually a fact. In the building I now work in which is the Public Library here in a small town of New Mexico. There’s a saying that in our children’s department (this is located downstairs) you can hear voices, voices of children. I once myself heard kids talking and I was the only one downstairs covering a shift for a coworker. Also we have a Young Primary shelf and you can display the books, when I was there working on a craft one of the books fell and I was completely alone (this shelf in next to the circulation desk) If you take a look at the shelf someone has to knock the book down. So finally I went to pick it up and put it back on the shelf as I was sitting down it fell again. It makes you think and believe.

A local "legend" was pretty much restricted to the 1st to 5th graders because it had to do with the school. There were many variations of the story, but all revolved around the idea that there was SOMETHING or SOMEONE in the woods. The younger kids insisted it was a witch, and the older kids came up with detailed stories about the murderer/bank robber who lived in the woods, complete with certain times that were supposed to be evil/haunted/unlucky as a result of his evil deeds. One girl claimed she went in until she got to a clearing with a tent and some old office chairs. She said she heard breathing and saw a bloody knife on the ground and ran off terrified. I don't know if the stories still exist, but I remember being fascinated when I first heard them.

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